YORK, Pa. - The Messiah baseball team held a 7-3 lead over the York Spartans heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, but the Spartans rallied for five-straight runs across the final two frames to earn an 8-7 victory. York scored three runs on a Brendan Martin homer in the bottom of the eighth, before tying the game with two outs in the ninth on a triple. Messiah proceeded to throw the relay throw to third out of play and the winning run crossed the plate.
 
Trent Culver led Messiah's offensive effort on the afternoon, driving in four runs on a 2-4 effort with a three-run home run. Kasey Caras also tied for the MAC Commonwealth lead with his seventh home run of the season, driving an opposite field solo shot to left.
 
Messiah falls to 7-11-1 overall with the loss and moves to 0-5 against York this season. The Falcons will be back in action this weekend when they host the Eastern Eagles on Friday for a doubleheader on the Starry Baseball Field beginning at noon. The Falcons will make a trip to St. Davids, Pa. on Saturday to complete the four-game series with the Eagles.
 
Hot Start
After falling behind 1-0 early on a York homer in the bottom of the first, the Falcons began to get going offensively. Dylan Symonds hit an RBI double to tie things up in the top of the second inning, before it was followed up with a run in the third to make it 2-1 Messiah.
 
Sam Zercher made it 3-1 with his second homer of the season in the fourth before the big highlight came in the form of a Trent Culver three-run homerun to stretch the lead to 6-2 in the top of the fifth.
 
Spartans Fight Back
In the bottom of the fifth, Messiah got two outs, but a York double trimmed the lead to 6-3.
 
Kasey Caras made it 7-3 with his seventh homerun of the season in the seventh inning before the Spartans once again struck with two outs.  In the bottom of the eighth, Brendan Martin hit a three-run homer to left center field that cut the lead to just one, making it 7-6 heading into the ninth.
 
The Falcons were held scoreless in the top half of the ninth. Messiah then got two outs in the bottom of the ninth before Brandon White hit an RBI triple to center field, before a throwing error brought him in for the game-winning run to give York the 8-7 win.
 
Inside The Box Score
The Spartans had some great two-out rallies in the game, scoring seven of their eight runs with two outs in an inning.
 
As mentioned, Kasey Caras is tied for the MAC Commonwealth lead with seven home runs, while the Falcons are second in the conference behind York with 21 homers.
 
Messiah's three home runs is the second most in a game this season and sixth multi-homerun game of the season.

What's Up Next
The Falcons will move back into MAC Commonwealth play Friday afternoon when they host the Eastern University Eagles for a doubleheader beginning at noon.